No Plans to Redistrict Cambridge for the 2023-2024 School Year

With rumors of the possible redistricting of North Fulton schools roaming halls and creating uproar in town hall meetings, distressed parents were relieved when the plan was scrapped.  

However, this might not be good for Cambridge.   

As student numbers continue to drop, so do budgets and teacher staffing.    

The redistricting plan focused on readjusting the school borders to relocate students from Milton and Alpharetta to Cambridge. 

This would potentially have affected home values and traffic patterns and upended many families’ routines.  

Despite normal routines being uprooted, many benefits still could’ve come of this. 

“We really needed redistricting; we continue to go down in numbers. We have not gone up since I’ve worked here, that’s been three years,” said Principal Ashley Agans. “By projections, we will be down to 1638 students next year, and we currently have 1763 right now.”  

Modifying the districts’ boundaries was expected to increase the school’s numbers. Agans said that, without redistricting, the school could face unforeseen problems later.  

“That means if we’re losing students, we’re losing teachers. We do our best to make sure we’re still offering everything that everybody wants, but at some point, we can’t offer everything because we don’t have the numbers to support it,” said Agans. 

With numbers continuing to plummet, Agans said certain pathways will need to be dropped, as a new balance needs to be found. 

“We desperately needed redistricting. This school is severely under-enrolled, and other schools are over-enrolled,” said Student Governance Council Chair member Lacy George, who is also a biology teacher at the school.  

Many speakers at FCS board meetings said redistricting gave hope to Cambridge’s projections, yet now it’s unclear what will happen to the future of the school. 

“I wasn’t at those meetings, because as a principal it’s not necessarily my place…yet I did see lots of protesting on social media,” said Agans. “So, for us, I think redistricting is something that we need, but that’s not really my decision.”